12 volt inline fuse stops power???

[tinbender]

I have a teardrop trailer that I bought recently and have been doing some upgrades to it. I ran into the following problem when I wired in a small 12 volt fan. Could use some help in trying to solve how to make it functional. This trailer has only a 12 volt battery that has 2 interior lights run to it and a light on the inside of the lift up back.

The fan was spliced into the power wire that feeds the interior lights, with an inline fuse, and tied to the common ground that is connected to the frame. This setup is as per the wiring instructions that came with the fan. The lights work, the fan would not.

To see if the fan was bad, I took it out and put it straight to the battery, with the fuse attached, and it still would not work. So then I removed the inline fuse, put the wires to the battery again and it worked great.

Basically it wouldn't work in any combination except the straight wire scenario. I would feel better having the fuse in the mix but it refuses to work with it there, so is it basically safe to just run it in the "straight wire" mode? BTW, the lights have no fuses either.

Thanks,
TB

[azflycaster]

Sounds like the fuse is bad. Did you try a new one?

[easyride]

Or the fuse holder is bad

[tinbender]

Yeah, I did. Still no joy.

[azflycaster]

Is the fuse blowing? If not the holder is bad as stated above. You should be able to find the open with a multi meter.

[tinbender]

thanks AZ and Easyride,

No, the fuse is not blowing. Will get another holder and fuse assembly and take some readings.

TB

[tinbender]

To tie up the loose end, all turned out well with this project in the end. Went back to square one checked all hookups, crimps, grounds, etc. Got another new inline holder, fuse and fuse tester. Checked it all out and did a dry run hooking the new setup to the battery, this time it worked like a champ. In the final installation I decided to run a new power and ground line for the fan and not splice back into the existing wires that run the lights.

That little fan makes a big difference. Much cooler in the trailer now. Thanks all for the suggestions.

TB